"We need to embrace 'inner disarmament', reducing our own emotions of suspicion, hatred and hostility toward our brothers & sisters."
- Dalai Lama
SERMONS & STATEMENTS
Sermon at Grace Cathedral
On Sunday, October 27, 2024, the Rt. Rev. William E. Swing delivered a sermon referencing the upcoming U.S. Presidential election and the urgency of ushering in a world free of nuclear weapons.
The Atomic Christ and the Incinerated Saguarro
Tessa Bielecki represents three rich streams in the Christian contemplative tradition:
Carmelite, Celtic, and the spirituality of the Desert Mothers and Fathers. For over fifty
years she lived in solitary wilderness hermitages in the U.S., Canada, and Ireland, in
deserts, mountains and woods.
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Asteroids and Nukes: Dinosaurs and Us
Bishop William E. Swing compares the perils and parallels between destruction of the Earth due to an asteroid strike and incineration due to a nuclear detonation.
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Turning Points: Christ and Hiroshima
David Denny reflects on a visit to the Chapel of the Holy Cross in Sedona, Arizona, with Tessa Bielecki. He recalls a scultpure of Christ that reminds them of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. Tessa’s comments on the crucifix before seeing Openheimer, and her words are an excellent preparation for seeing the film, which is based on American Prometheus, by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.
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Nakedness and Nukes
As we continue to watch the dynamics between Russia and Ukraine unfold, we not only see the vulnerability of the lives in this particular conflict but of the life of the planet. Bishop Swing reflects on this vulnerability in the following reflection statement.
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Living in the Light of Christ's Peace: A Conversation Toward Nuclear Disarmament.
This important statement from Archbishop John Wester, Bishop of Santa Fe New Mexico was released January 11, 2022.
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The Day the World Almost Ended
Church of England Urges United Kingdom to Sign UN Anti-Nuclear Treaty
Archbishops and bishops express ‘much regret’ in letter at refusal to join international peace accord. Stephen Cottrell, archbishop of York is among signatories to a letter calling on the UK government to sign the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
The Catholic Worker Movement - Response to Hiroshima
This statement published by Dorothy Day on behalf of the Catholic Worker Movement September 1, 1945 denounces the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and is outraged at the jubilation in the press. Juxtaposes words and images that contrast the evil of the bomb’s destruction with God’s creative love.
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Faithful Security
Under the direction of the late Rev. William Sloane Coffin, a group of religious leaders from different national organizations met to address the threat of nuclear war. The group responded by establishing Faithful Security: The National Religious Partnership to End the Nuclear Weapons Danger (Faithful Security).
Joint Interfaith Statement
This statement was released on the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
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Joint Interfaith Statement on the Entry into Force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
Joint Nuclear Reduction-Disarmament Statement
On Care for Our Common Home
Sojourners Magazine Archives - February 1977
This publication by Richard McSorley titled "It's a Sin to Build a Nuclear Weapon" is available on this Christian social justice magazine's website. Sojourners grew from Sourjourners' ministries out of the Soujourners Community in Southern Columbia Heights in Washington D.C. during the early 70's.
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